Autumn time still pleases us with an abundance of colors, despite the fact that nature is already beginning to prepare for a period of rest, to fade. Plants of autumn flower beds are distinguished by a variety of colors. They create a festive mood. Especially if planted with fantasy and love.
Classification of autumn colors
Autumn flowers delight not only with a variety of colors, but also with rather long flowering periods. Most of them bloom in August and may bloom in September, October, and some even in November until frost sets in.
Plants of autumn flower beds can be of the most diverse colors. Red, orange, yellow, white, pink, lilac, blue… And even colorful.
The shape of the flowers and the height of the stem of plants blooming in autumn can also differ significantly.
All these distinguishing features can be skillfully used when laying out flower beds. For example, competent gardeners skillfully combine plants according to colors, as well as according to the flowering period. Plant height also plays an important role inproper organization of flower beds. Higher plants should not obscure the lower ones, and thicker ones should skillfully set off single specimens.
If we talk about scientific classification, then autumn flowers are divided into annual and perennial. The latter, in turn, are bulbous.
Plants of autumn flower beds: names
There are a lot of autumn colors. But of course, among them there are the most common, as a rule, characterized by unpretentiousness in cultivation.
Chrysanthemums, clematis, roses, gladiolus, dahlias, helenium, Chinese lanterns, sedum, hydrangea, salvia, colchicum, asters predominate among perennial autumn flowers in horticultural plots. The latter are not only perennial, but also annual.
Annual autumn flowers include alyssum, ageratum, marigolds, godetia, dimorphoteka, kosmeya, zinnia and others.
Many summer residents prefer to plant perennial autumn flowers: no need to worry about planting every year, with the exception of bulbous perennials. In addition, for the most part, perennial plants of autumn flower beds are unpretentious in terms of soil, care, and lighting.
Planting perennial flowers
Perennials can be propagated by seeds, bulbs, cuttings and dividing the bush.
The best time to plant them is the beginning of spring, as well as August-September.
Autumn planting, in October-November, has a positive effect on the hardening of seeds: they germinate together, the plants develop a good root system, and they are more resistant todiseases. By the way, not only perennials, but also annual flowers are planted in autumn, for example, alyssum, Chinese carnation, rudbecky, Chinese aster and others.
Before planting plants, the earth must be well dug up and mineral and organic fertilizers applied. Only then prepare the holes or grooves. It is not necessary to sow seeds in them immediately. It is better to do this when the soil is already a little frozen. From above, the seeds should be sprinkled with peat and sand, you can use humus in half with sand for these purposes. From above, the bed is covered with dry foliage.
They are jailed most often
The most popular perennial plants of autumn flower beds: chrysanthemum, aster and gelenium. Let's talk about the first two in more detail.
Chrysanthemum is often called the "Queen of Autumn". Its flowers are distinguished by a wide variety of shades and shapes. Regular double and semi-double blooms come in white, yellow, pink, red, cream, lilac.
Garden chrysanthemums, depending on the variety, bloom from late August to late October and even later, until frost.
Chrysanthemums are best planted in sunny places and on fertile, loose soil. Before flowering, they must be fed with nitrogen fertilizers. Then - switch to phosphorus and potassium. In dry weather, chrysanthemums should be watered so that the leaves do not dry out. You can transplant them at any time, you just need to dig out with a large clod of earth.
Perhaps the most common flowers in the fall in the flowerbed are asters. The abundance of their colors is impressive, floweringrather lengthy.
You can highlight the New Belgian asters. They are tall with a straight stem branching heavily at the end. New England asters, on the contrary, grow as a bush, and when they bloom, they look like a beautiful bouquet. On many flower beds in autumn you can see small-flowered asters. Pale pink, white and light purple blossoms of these asters do not fade until the first frost.
Perennial asters are best propagated by dividing the bush. This must be done in the spring. For good growth and flowering, asters need top dressing and watering.
Planting bulbous plants
Bulbous plants of autumn flower beds do not require special care. Many gardeners have heard their names: colchicum, beautiful crocus, gladiolus, begonia, dahlia.
The main difference between bulbous perennials is that the bulbs of some of them after the first frost should be dug up and stored in a cool place. They should be planted in the ground in early spring. These plants include begonias, gladioli and dahlias.
But colchicum, or kolchikum, is planted in July-August, to a depth of about 10 centimeters, in a sunny place, however, partial shade is also suitable. It will bloom next fall. The same should be done with autumn crocuses.
Before planting any bulbs, you should carefully inspect and select good, undamaged, large bulbs. Then they must be pickled in any of the solutions: potassium permanganate or karbofos.
The soil must be fertilized with minerals. It is best to take superphosphate, potassium phosphate and ammonium nitrate. Additionally humus. By planting bulbous plants in the spring, you can be calm all season - they do not need any care.
The story of the autumn flower garden plant
Our choice fell on the dahlia. In terms of the splendor of flowering and its duration, dahlias, perhaps, have no equal. Their large number of varieties have been bred, differing in color and shape of flowers and leaves, height of bushes.
Dahlias love sunny places, protected from the wind, and the soil is loose, fertile.
They should be planted when the earth is already well warmed up (end of May-beginning of June). Pits for planting tubers should be prepared in advance, they are dug to the depth of a shovel bayonet. At the bottom of the pits, rotted manure, superphosphate, complex fertilizer, ash and lime (the last in a handful) are poured. Everything is mixed with sand. Tubers are planted to a depth of 10 cm (previously large ones are divided into several parts), covered with earth and watered well.
Given that the stems of dahlias grow quite tall, you should immediately install pegs near the hole with the planted tubers, so that later you can tie the stems to them.
Care for dahlias consists of infrequent watering and fertilizing. And by the end of summer and all autumn, these flowers will delight you with lush flowering and brightness of colors.
Transplanting autumn perennials
Perennial plants of autumn flower beds must be replanted periodically, carrying out the separation procedurebushes. If they grow large, they will lack nutrients in the soil, as well as moisture and light.
Transplanting perennial flowers is best done during a period of calm growth. First, a place is prepared: the earth is dug up and mixed with fertilizers. Then holes are prepared, which are watered. Before digging up the plant, it must also be watered. The shovel is stuck into the ground carefully and at some distance from the stems so that the roots are not damaged. The plant is taken out along with a clod of earth and immediately placed in the hole, if separation is not required. Sprinkled with earth, which is compacted. The plant is then watered.
When transplanting tall perennials into the hole, immediately drive a peg in order to tie the growing stems of the plant to it.
Pruning autumn flowers
A story about a plant in the autumn flower garden will not be complete if you do not remember the preparation of these plants for the winter and their pruning.
Perennial flower plants should be pruned for the winter. Because in the spring, old shoots will interfere with young ones. Dried stems should not be cut to the very ground, but leaving some of them with leaves to accumulate nutrients that will be needed next year. After pruning flower plants, the ground near them must be loosened and fertilized in the form of humus or compost.
Pruned for the winter and shrub perennial flowers, such as roses. First of all, damaged, as well as immature shoots are removed. Roses are left lignifiedpart of the stems. But leaves and buds are also removed from them, as well as vegetation from under the bushes. This is done so that harmful insects are not bred there, which can contribute to the development of diseases or the spread of infection.
However, some autumn plants like clematis are pruned in early spring.
Shelter flowers for the winter
Autumn flower garden: plants, varieties and care. It seems that all this has already been said. But it is also worth talking about sheltering flowers for the winter.
After pruning the plant and removing old leaves, it is necessary to mulch the ground around it with compost, and cover it with spruce branches on top. By the way, in the spring, the spruce branches must be immediately removed so that it does not interfere with the plant's shoots.
Shelters for the winter require roses, clematis, phlox, carnation Shabo and some other flowers.
For example, autumn crocuses do not require shelter for the winter. Perennial asters, stonecrops, goldenrod are also frost-resistant. However, the flower beds where they grow can be mulched by using peat mixed with humus or compost.
Finally, some flower plants, as mentioned above, are dug up for the winter and stored in a cool place.
After a successful wintering, perennials will sprout young shoots, gain strength over the summer, and in the fall they will again delight everyone with their colorful colors. This concludes our story about which plants bloom in autumn.
